FROM THIS EPISODE

Two very different crises have captured the world's attention: the likelihood of nuclear meltdowns at power plans in Japan and bloody fighting in Libya. The US and Japan have different assessments of radiation releases. We get two reports from northern Japan, then update the military situation in Libya.

Banner image: Japanese Self Defence Force's CH-47 Chinook helicopters holding more than seven tons water each with large buckets from the sea near Natori in Miyagi prefecture on March 17, 2011. The water is being dumped onto the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in a bid to douse radioactive fuel rods. Photo: Yomiuri Shimbun/AFP/Getty Images

Military and police forces have used water-dropping helicopters and water canons in a desperate effort to cool down the spent fuel rods now exposed to the air at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex. American and Japanese officials have different assessments of how much radiation is spewing into the air from Japan's damaged reactors. Both the Pentagon and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are sending experts into the area.

As Colonel Moammar Gadhafi's forces get closer to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the US is now backing international intervention, but the UN Security Council has yet to agree. We hear from reporters travelling in northern Japan and from Libya, as well as different opinions about the wisdom of intervention.